How far are the O's away from being a winning team?

[Sports Guy]

It’s easy to say spend or trade guys for established players..but what do you spend on?

To me, there are 2 things I would be looking to add as of right now..a TOR starter (Eyes on German Marquez as I mentioned in the offseason) and another top BP arm.

I feel that no matter what happens this year, that those will be 2 spots we could use.  
 

Anything  else (SS or 3Rd especially) are areas we will have a better feel for come the offseason.

[oriole]

38 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

Agreed.  By next year, hopefully G-Rod and Hall will be up,  Means will still be as solid as ever, the outfield picture will be set with Heston set to join at some point in 2022, and an idea of which infielders we can potentially keep for the long haul (i.e. Bannon, Jones, etc.).  

Not to mention hopefully there is a trade at some point of Mancini, Santander, maybe Harvey if he keeps pitching like he did last night...I’d like to believe those guys could hopefully net a 2B or 3B prospect better than Bannon or Jones. Wishful thinking at this point with all things considered but it’s still early in the season

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 hours ago, orioles22 said:

The bigger question for me, and whether I give up baseball after 50 years following the Orioles, is are we going to continue to try to win after we get there. I'm tired of the constant need to save a dollar and making decisions based on money instead of baseball. Sell the team if you can't afford a MLB team.

This has only been happening in any meaningful way during the rebuild. The 2018 team was an incredibly expensive last place team.

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s easy to say spend or trade guys for established players..but what do you spend on?

To me, there are 2 things I would be looking to add as of right now..a TOR starter (Eyes on German Marquez as I mentioned in the offseason) and another top BP arm.

I feel that no matter what happens this year, that those will be 2 spots we could use.  
 

Anything  else (SS or 3Rd especially) are areas we will have a better feel for come the offseason.

Will be particularly helpful to have a MiL season in the books to better know where we stand re: the organizational pipeline.

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It all depends on the young players they have and how quickly they develop.  Nothing else really matters.

Yep.   We are a week away from having our first minor league game in 20 months.   I think we'll be scrutinizing those minor league box scores more than ever before.

You think people have an out of proportion response to small sample good and bad starts at the big league level?   Wait until the minor league season starts.   We'll be screaming to call up or promote guys who are hitting .350 after 10 games or have two straight quality starts, and panic will set in if some of our top prospects get off to a poor first two weeks.

[Just Regular]

58 minutes ago, Ripken said:

What I want to see is spending on a legit SP and a legit middle infielder. 

That is the basic tactical question if Adley, etc. show enough and Elias' 2022 recommendation to ownership is contention plausible.   If say $30M are allocated to buy ~4 wins from market, is it:

A. Max Scherzer

B. Kevin Gausman and Marcus Semien

C. Carlos Correa

With D. None of the Above of course being an outcome driven by ownership mandate, or the core talent just not showing enough.

Just by AAV, the 2021 Royals put about $25M extra in 2021 guys for this year's club and ballpark I think entering this offseason our situation will have some similarities with theirs last year.

[Can_of_corn]

16 minutes ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

This has only been happening in any meaningful way during the rebuild. The 2018 team was an incredibly expensive last place team.

In other words since the change in ownership.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

19 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Yep.   We are a week away from having our first minor league game in 20 months.   I think we'll be scrutinizing those minor league box scores more than ever before.

You think people have an out of proportion response to small sample good and bad starts at the big league level?   Wait until the minor league season starts.   We'll be screaming to call up or promote guys who are hitting .350 after 10 games or have two straight quality starts, and panic will set in if some of our top prospects get off to a poor first two weeks.

I think no matter how Adley performs it's going to provide good entertainment value on OH. 

[LTO's]

21 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

In other words since the change in ownership.

In other words since they had the worst team in franchise history and a bottom 5 farm system in baseball.  

[HowAboutThat]

We will know what Elias thinks when he first trades future value for present value. So far he’s only traded present for Future value.

 

[HowAboutThat]

Was Cadyn Grenier a wasted pick or too soon to tell? 
Gunner is only 20, and not close. 
No one says much about Adam Hall but he’s a prospect with a possible 2021 arrival.

I have seen enough of Urias and would be happy to replace him with anybody. Ruiz gets a longer leash because his defense at  2B isn’t bad.

The catchers are dreadful and both need to be replaced yesterday.

We can hit .500 this year but only if we promote prospects wisely and use them properly. Sceroler coming in against the Yankees with bases loaded and no outs is NOT using them wisely. Insisting that Scott is your high-leverage guy even though he fails too much is NOT wise use.

So I’m thinking no.

But maybe.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Philip said:

Was Cadyn Grenier a wasted pick or too soon to tell? 
Gunner is only 20, and not close. 
No one says much about Adam Hall but he’s a prospect with a possible 2021 arrival.

I have seen enough of Urias and would be happy to replace him with anybody. Ruiz gets a longer leash because his defense at  2B isn’t bad.

The catchers are dreadful and both need to be replaced yesterday.

We can hit .500 this year but only if we promote prospects wisely and use them properly. Sceroler coming in against the Yankees with bases loaded and no outs is NOT using them wisely. Insisting that Scott is your high-leverage guy even though he fails too much is NOT wise use.

So I’m thinking no.

But maybe.

Grenier is nothing.

Gunnar could be up next year if he develops as some think he will.

Hall has second base potential.

 

[HowAboutThat]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Grenier is nothing.

Gunnar could be up next year if he develops as some think he will.

Hall has second base potential.

 

Hall at second base this season? I’m hoping for that because his D is better then Jones’ but either one would be fine if he can produce.

[Camden_yardbird]

The prima facie answer to this question must include some consideration of ownership and their level of commitment.  Right now that question simply can't be answered at best and that there will be little to no support for free agent acquisitions or extensions at worse.

Given the on the field product and farm system without much in the way of free agent acquisition I would say 3 years on the close side and possibly never under the current leadership even if given a hypothetical 10 years.  The trades are too hit and miss and we have yet (due in large part to a lost year) see much of what the draft has provided.

[interloper]

If Mountcastle, Santander, and others hit to their talent level, not that far. Couple of shrewd moves and some offensive normalizing from being decent.